HNYA—September 3, 2023
I've been building my own custom keyboards for a while and want to say this is easily my favorite stock keyboard. The switches are nice and quiet (at least compared to RAZER's norm and were only just louder than my turquoise tealios), the stabilizers are mind blowing how they got this nice a sound factory. Just everything is impressive. If you're interested in jumping into customs, 100% start here. Some minor complaints I'm having with it. Mostly with the synapse software. Upon booting my pc I am never able to just start typing to put in my password, the keyboard for some reason needs to have the synapse software running to function so it's really irritating but not something I can fault the board for, just Synapse. Another small gripe is I like the smaller feet up but I also tend to slide my keyboard around a lot and the plastic feet aren't exactly great and tend to fold in with the slightest movement, so I've just had it flat (there's still the slight angle so it's not bad). These are mostly personal complaints but I could see the synapse one being an issue. Added some NK Creams and gmk caps I had extra and this is going to be my daily driver for the foreseeable future. Good job Razer, keep up the product quality like this. Read more
Dipan Patel—January 16, 2025
Unfortunately, Left-Shift key not working out the box. It doesn't register a press. I switched it with other switches on the same board to verify if it was just a faulty switch, though it still does not register a press, while the same switch from the shift key works with other key positions. As a gaming keyboard, Left Shift is one of the most used keys. And it's the only one not working. The inside packing looked like it was packed in a rush..as if it refurbished instead of brand new. Plastic cover was wrinkled and parts of the interior of the box were slightly ripped upon opening, suggesting it seemed to have been open at once stage or another after the manufacturer packed it. This was shipped from Amazon but it was not put in an Amazon box. Only the product box. This was an international shipping. So that's a bit upsetting that it wasn't properly packed. Anyone could've just taken the box knowing what the product was. Considering the price and seller reputation, this is a bit of a let down considering the keyboard is pretty nice and was hoping it could use this for another 10 years like my previous razer chroma keyboard from back in 2014. But doesn't seem to be the case here. Not sure what to rate. Keyboard came through, but has problems; it was advertised as brand new. Not sure if I'd recommend it, but if you really want this keyboard, bite the bullet and get it straight from Razer website. That way you can deal with manufacturer with any issues. I love the feel and sound of the keyboard, and would give a 4star rating since I can overlook the shipping method since it did get to me without damage. However, the keys not working are not acceptable really. If it was the switch, I could replace them, but even after swapping switches to make sure it wasn't a switch problem, it seems to be the PCB itself. And to fix that, its literally a replacement of the entire keyboard. Good keyboard, good built materials, however keys not working are not acceptable. Unfortunately I wouldn't here. Read more
The Lovely Lyss—January 1, 2024
As the title reads, this is a wildly good, and capable, mechanical keeb from Razer that ups their quality substantially. I am not a keyboard enthusiast, as in I don't buy barebones builds and mod them out with sound dampening materials, etc., however, I am a fan of buying pre-builts and customs from time to time off of Ebay that people have worked on and poured some love into. Typically what I am looking for, as far as the switches, keycaps, and overall typing experience is concerned, is a medium to light feeling tactile switch. The Razer orange switches that come standard on the Black Widow V4 definitely have a bit more oomph to them than I would like; my other three boards vary in their switch style with two being linear and one other tactile with Kalih Box Browns installed on it. The tactile Orange switches can be easily replaced...that's because Razer finally caught up with the times and now allow you a hot swappable set up for said switches; you can find a lot of great sites to get affordable switches off of, but I typically shop on NovelKeys for all that stuff - check them out; KBDFans is another great site too. Now, as for the typing, due to the sound dampening tape job and a layer of foam in this board, you get a pretty nice, and at least to me ears, semi-deep thock sound to each keystroke; typing feels like a dream; not too hard, not too fast, and the spelling errors feel minimal as a result. You'd think, that this may translate to games feeling a bit stunted with the heavier orange switches here, but, no, they feel great surprisingly! Lightly tapping on the keys and actuating them yields a fast response time, and with this board you can speed up the response time in Razer Synapse if that's your thing; I am using the 1000 polling rate and haven't felt a need to go past this; my PC could handle it, but I enjoy...out of the box experiences and this feels great as is. In the coming month I have a Wooting60 HE on the way and a keycap set to add to a newer NovelKeys 65 (Oblivion Edition) board, so I am stoked to continue swapping between options and getting an ongoing feel for this Razer board. I usually stay at the 65% range for my boards due to desktop real estate preferences, but I think I may be a convert to the 75 / 80% territory going forward; time will tell. All I can say is that out of the box the stabilizers are rock solid, there is no key rattle to the right / left shift, space bar, enter, or backspace keys. This keyboard feels rock solid, as I just said, and I am quite impressed with what Razer was able to deliver for people who just want to plug in and play while remaining oblivious to the larger keyboard enthusiast / modding world. Without sound too ignorant here, I have pulled boards apart in the past and added lube to stabs, tape / foam / bandaid mods, and what not, but it just feels amazing to have something in your hands that just feels this good immediately. The last near-enthusiast style board that I bought for kicks and grins was the Glorious GMMK Pro; for the price and what it costs to get that board to shine, I would rather have gone with this Black Widow V4 instead back then; alas, this keyboard did not exist then and I am happy to be typing on it right now. So, TLDR version: Super solid keyboard with tactile switches and a sound profile that sounds amazing to those who are not incredibly nitpicky. Yes, you could probably add more to this board, void the Razer warranty, and make it sound / feel even better, but for what it is, you got something great on your hands. My board did not arrive with any double key press issues or any other small gripes in regards to keycaps, switches, or the stabilizers. It really has been a small dream of a keyboard experience. Read more
